Identification
Full title: “The confessions of William Henry Ireland: containing the particulars of his fabrication of the Shakespeare manuscripts; together with anecdotes and opinions (hitherto unpublished) of many distinguished persons in the literary, political, and theatrical world”
Author: William Henry Ireland
Imprint: Published by Ellerton and Byworth in London, England, 1805.
MSU library call number: PR2950 .A8 1805
Contents/Significance
This novel’s author, William Henry Ireland (1777-1835) discovered a knack for forgery at the age of 19. To please his father, Samuel Ireland, who was a William Shakespeare fanatic and collector, William Henry claimed to have “found” many documents featuring Shakespeare’s signature. In reality, they were just very well done forgeries.
William Henry even went so far as to write an entire play, called Vortigern, and sign Shakespeare’s name to it. Drury Lane theatre in London put on a production of this play in 1796, which was met with mixed reactions after a critic called it out as an obvious forgery. The audience was split between those who believed it to be a work of Shakespeare and those who could see that it clearly was not.
William Henry soon confessed to his forgeries, but never faced any legal consequences. His father Samuel, refused to believe his son had made such forgeries and died four years later believing the documents and play were real. William Henry was scorned and ostracized by society for the rest of his life. 1
“The confessions of William Henry Ireland” is a detailed account of Ireland’s life in which he confesses the truth about the Shakespeare manuscripts. It also includes anecdotes and Ireland’s opinions on people in political, literary, and theatrical work. This copy is a rare first edition.
Physical Condition
MSU’s copy of this book has brown marbled boards along with black, white, and red marbled paste-downs and end pages. The cover and spine features gold illumination in a dotted pattern. The spine also includes the title in gold and small shell-like designs.
There is some general wear and tear on the inside and outside of the book, such as some discoloring on pages, bent or torn paper, and tearing on the cover.
There is a book ribbon between pages 158 and 159. It appears to have been in the same position for a long time, as the ribbon has discolored the pages on both sides.
These things are evidence of quite a bit of use. However, the book as a whole is in fairly good condition considering its age and being well-loved.
Provenance
On the front free endleaf, a watermark can be found that says “S & N 1809.” It doesn’t show up again throughout the book. I could not find anything about this specific watermark on watermark databases or elsewhere on the internet.
The date on the watermark being four years after the publication of the copy of this book may indicate that it was rebound in 1809 and at least that one page was added or was a replacement.
The book features one bookplate and one booklabel on the front paste-down. The first bookplate seems to feature the initials “HSB” or “HIB.” Considering the style and condition of the first bookplate, I would assume that it was inserted by the book’s owner previous to Joan Feisenberger.
The booklabel is from the copy’s former owner Joan Marjorie Feisenberger (maiden name: Greenall). The bottom bookplate clearly states her name, along with an image of a cat.
Joan was born November 4th, 1910 in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England and died at age 82 on November 12th, 1992 in Chelsea, Greater London, England. She is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in London, England. Not much can be found about her life, except that she had two marriages, first to John Dunbar Mair (1914-1942) and later to Hellmut Albert Feisenberger (1909-1999).
The book has a bookseller’s card inserted between the back cover and the last endleaf from Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers, a shop in London where this copy of “The confessions of Willian Henry Ireland” was sold to Michigan State University Libraries for 250 Euros in 2015.
Created by Kendra Gilchrist in Fall 2023 for Dr. Brockey’s HST 475 class at MSU.
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/to-beor-not-the-greatest-shakespeare-forgery-136201/ ↩︎
